> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://kam-1.gitbook.io/kam-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://kam-1.gitbook.io/kam-docs/chemical/03_gases.md).

# The Six Agents (Gases)

A bird's-eye comparison first, then the details.

| Agent             | Class        | Tier | Cloud look       | Smell            | Onset                  | Lethality           | Treatment                  |
| ----------------- | ------------ | ---- | ---------------- | ---------------- | ---------------------- | ------------------- | -------------------------- |
| **CS / Tear gas** | Riot control | 0    | White / pale     | None             | Immediate              | Non-lethal          | Leave the cloud; wears off |
| **Chlorine**      | Choking      | 1    | Greenish-yellow  | Sharp chlorine   | \~30 s in cloud        | Low–moderate        | Atropine                   |
| **Phosgene**      | Choking      | 1    | Pale grey-white  | Faint fresh hay  | **Delayed 2–6 min**    | High (sneaky)       | Atropine                   |
| **Mustard**       | Blister      | 2    | Brown-yellow     | Garlic / mustard | Builds over minutes    | Moderate, disabling | Decon kit (+ wound care)   |
| **Sarin**         | Nerve (G)    | 2    | Nearly invisible | None             | Fast (\~90 s to death) | **Very high**       | ATNAA                      |
| **VX**            | Nerve (V)    | 2    | Oily amber       | None             | Slower but persistent  | **Very high**       | ATNAA **and** decon kit    |

## CS / Tear Gas (Level 0)

The non-lethal one. CS is a riot-control irritant — it won't injure anyone medically, but it's miserable to be in. A gas mask protects the airway; note that CS still affects the **eyes** even through an oxygen mask, so it's not something you can simply ignore.

* **Cloud:** white / pale, lasts about 60 seconds.
* **Effect:** there's a configurable chance of dropping your weapon while inside the cloud (off by default — set *Drop Weapon Chance* above 0 to enable it).
* **Treatment:** none needed. Step out and it passes.
* **Delivery of note:** the `KAT_M7A3` hand grenade is a dedicated CS gas grenade.

## Chlorine (Level 1)

The classic choking agent and the direct descendant of the legacy "toxic gas." A gas mask blocks it completely.

* **Cloud:** greenish-yellow, lingers around 200 seconds — the longest-lasting of the conventional clouds.
* **Smell (unmasked):** *"You smell chlorine in the air..."*
* **Symptoms:** after roughly **30 seconds** of exposure you start coughing and pick up air poisoning (shown as intoxication in the medical menu).
* **Treatment:** **Atropine**. This is the backwards-compatible behaviour — anything that worked on the old toxic gas still works on chlorine.

## Phosgene (Level 1) — the silent killer

Phosgene is what makes a gas mask feel essential. It's a choking agent like chlorine, but its danger is *time*. You can breathe a lethal dose, feel completely fine, walk away, and collapse minutes later.

* **Cloud:** pale grey-white, lasts about 90 seconds.
* **Smell (unmasked):** *"You catch a faint smell of fresh hay..."* — easy to dismiss, which is the point.
* **Symptoms:** nothing at first. Then, **2 to 6 minutes after exposure** (randomised per victim), pulmonary edema hits — coughing and badly reduced breathing depth, *even though you left the cloud long ago*.
* **Treatment:** **Atropine** clears it. The trick is realising you were dosed before the symptoms arrive.
* **Important:** M8 paper reads **NEGATIVE** for phosgene — detection paper does not react to choking agents. Don't trust a clean M8 result as "all clear."

## Mustard / Yperite (Level 2) — gets worse over time

A blister agent that requires the full CBRN suit. Mustard doesn't kill quickly; it disables, and it keeps hurting you long after you've left the cloud because it contaminates your skin and gear.

* **Cloud:** thick brown-yellow, lasts about 120 seconds.
* **Smell (unmasked):** *"You smell garlic and mustard..."*
* **Progression (with default timings):**
  1. **On contact:** skin contamination is applied immediately (visible in the medical menu).
  2. **\~40–100 s:** eye injuries set in — heavy vision impairment, possibly both eyes.
  3. **\~100–240 s:** chemical burn wounds open up across the body, with lung damage and rising pain.
  4. **Every 40 s thereafter:** while you remain contaminated, the burns keep re-applying. Leaving the cloud does **not** stop this.
* **Treatment:** the **Decontamination Kit** is the cure — it clears the contamination and cancels the pending eye/burn timers. Burns and eye injuries that have already happened are treated as normal wounds through ACE/KAT medical. Atropine only suppresses the airway symptom, not the contamination.

## Sarin (Level 2) — fast nerve agent

A G-series nerve agent and the fastest killer in the set. Requires the full CBRN suit. What makes sarin terrifying is that the cloud is **nearly invisible and odourless** — you may not know you're in it until the symptoms start.

* **Cloud:** faint warm tint, very hard to see; lasts about 90 seconds.
* **Smell:** none.
* **Progression (default timings, from first exposure):**
  * **30 s:** vomiting begins.
  * **60 s:** unconsciousness.
  * **90 s:** cardiac arrest → death if untreated.
* **Treatment:** the **ATNAA auto-injector**. Administered before the cardiac-arrest deadline, it clears the nerve-agent exposure and **aborts the cardiac arrest before it fires**. With default timings you have a 90-second window from exposure. Atropine does *not* work on nerve agents.

## VX (Level 2) — slow, persistent, and the hardest to treat

The other nerve agent, V-series. VX trades sarin's speed for persistence. The cloud lingers for **ten minutes** by default, and like mustard it contaminates the skin — so curing the nerve symptoms once is not enough.

* **Cloud:** oily amber, visibly persistent; lasts about 600 seconds (10 minutes).
* **Smell:** none.
* **Progression (default timings):**
  * **60 s:** vomiting.
  * **120 s:** unconsciousness.
  * **240 s:** cardiac arrest.
* **The catch — it re-poisons you.** VX sets *both* nerve-agent exposure *and* skin contamination. ATNAA clears the nerve exposure and stops the current symptom chain, but the contamination tick fires every 40 seconds and re-applies VX, starting a fresh symptom chain each time.
* **Treatment:** you need **two** items:

  1. **ATNAA** — aborts the active nerve-agent symptom chain.
  2. **Decontamination Kit** — clears the skin contamination so the tick stops re-poisoning you.

  Use only the ATNAA and VX will keep coming back. Use only the decon and the already-running symptom chain still kills you. This dual requirement is the whole point of VX.

***